Short Paper: Mortgage Fraud Article
ACC-421-R1466 Auditing and Forensic Accounting
Southern New Hampshire University
Alexandra Dewey September 19, 2021
Mark Broeg and Michelle Anderson were arrested in Oregon in 2016 on real estate fraud
charges. More than five million dollars worth of property was involved in this scheme. Broeg
and Anderson were detained on suspicion of felony counts, including theft of services, attempted
aggravated robbery, forget and negotiating a bad check. Detectives found the Broeg posed as a
mortgage broker to obtain fake loans and Anderson requested help from Broeg to purchase a
home fraudulently. Agents found that Anderson had also been committing rental scams by
providing landlords false information and then skipping out on the rent she owed [Fis16].
There is no doubt that fraud is happening all around us. Verifying documents that are
submitted should be the top priority for lenders. The FBI is desperately trying to influence the
banks to take the extra steps needed in ascertaining the person applying for the loan. There are
two areas of mortgage fraud that can pursue a person in applying for a loan. Those areas can be
broken down into fraud for profit and fraud for housing. Fraud for profit can be identified as
someone who knowingly applies for accommodations but intends to steal the cash and equity for
other things. Fraud for housing can be identified as illegal actions a borrower takes to acquire or
maintain ownership of a house. While fraud for housing is less widespread than fraud for profit,
it is still on the FBI's radar (Financial Institution).
The government is looking for more resources to investigate and prosecute the people
and the group of people who commit these schemes. Although it will never be 100% preventable
they are looking to cut down on the number of times this scam happens every year. Prosecuting
someone may help send a message to the others thinking of an easy and quick way to obtain cash
and prevent more cases (Singleton & Singleton, 2010).
Many red flags should have popped up to the banks and everyone involved in this
specific mortgage fraud case. Broeg was attempting to purchase an excess of both residential and
development properties